Nancey Murphy Blows the Adventist (Forum) Mind
Now back from the Spectrum / Association of Adventist Forums conference in Couer d’Alene, ID.
The theme, “Science and the Human Soul: reflections on the brain, hope,
and love” featured excellent presentations by Nancey Murphy, Alden
Thompson, and T. Joe Willey.
Fuller Theological Seminary professor (and GTU alum of the year!) Nancey Murphy presented three lectures on non-reductive physicalism.
Interestingly, while most Christians believe in trichotomism – humans
are made of three parts (body, soul, and mind), – Adventists, while not
often aware of it, are at least doctrinally physicalists. However, as
Nancey illustrated, the philosophy of physicalism, while discarding the
unscientific and unbiblical idea of the soul, forces believers to
reconceive how God interacts with the human mind as brain. If
consciousness springs from complex neural activity, what about God? And then, how are moral choices determined?
Click here to see brief video and lecture material of Nancey Murphy’s presentations on physicalism. Be sure to click on the video link on the side to catch the basics of her thought.
Here’s short video
of her objecting to the common idea that science and religion occupy
separate spheres. And here’s a printed interview with Nancey from The Christian Century on the relationship between religion and science.
Update: The edited Adventist Forum conference podcasts available here.
Thanks to Johnny from Johnny’s Blog
for his help.
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